유아의 기질 및 어머니 양육행동에 관한 연구

Children's Temperamental Effect in their Mothers' Childrearing Behaviors

본 연구에서는 유아의 기질이 양육행동에 영향을 미치는가를 밝히고 그 영향의 상대적 정도를 살펴보았다. 본 연구의 연구문제는 다음 세가지로 요약된다. 첫째, 유아들의 기질은 유아의 성, 연령에 따라 차이가 있는가? 둘째, 어머니의 양육행동은 유아의 성, 연령에 따라 차이가 있는가? 셋째, 유아의 기질 요인들은 어머니의 양육행동에 영향을 끼치는가? 영향을 끼치는 상대적기여도는 어떠한가? 이 세가지 연구문제로 논문을 전개하였다.

It has been traditionally known that the family environment which young children grow up in affects how their temperament is expressed. However, researchers recently placed more focus on the fact that the way children react to their parents may in turn influence their environment for their own development. Specifically, this study investigated the effects of children's temperaments on their mothers' childrearing behaviors and the relative rates of contribution that these temperamental factors had on parenting behaviors. The subjects included 196 children from three to six years of age who were attending kindergarten or daycare centers in Seoul. Their mothers were also subjects in the study. The data from the Parent Temperament Questionnaire and the Iowa Parent Behavior Inventory were factorized; thus thirty-five and thirty items, respectively, were chosen and used as the research instruments for this study. For data analysis, multiple regression was preformed. The findings of this study were as follows: 1) Children's temperaments differed depending on their gender. That is, the approachment, agreableness, and persistency were higher among boys than girls, whereas sensitive reactivity was higher among girls than boys. However, biological rhythmicity did not show any differences depending on gender. 2) Children's temperaments did not show any differences depending on their ages. 3) Mothers' childrearing behaviors did not show any differences depending on their child's gender. 4) Only with one factor, rational explanations, did mothers' childrearing behaviors show any difference depending on the child's age. The mothers of six and seven year-olds gave their children more rational explanations than the mothers of three to four year-olds. Generally, mothers' childrearing behaviors did not show any differences depending on children's ages in responsive caring, intimate expression, nor limit setting. 5) All of the four factors of mothers' childrearing behavior showed differences depending on the level of education of the mother. Mothers with a higher level of education gave more rational explanations, responsive caring, intimate expression, and more limit setting. 6) When children's temperaments were persistent, agreeable, sensitively reactive, and approachable, their mothers gave more rational explanations. These four temperamental factors accounted for 38% of the variance in their parent's rational explanation behaviors. Among the four factors, persistency accounted for 20% of the variance, while agreeableness explained additional 12%. 7) When children's temperaments were biologically rhythmic, persistent, and agreeable, their mothers did more responsive caring. These three temperament factors accounted for 16% of the variance in the mothers' responsive caring. The most powerful factor was biological rhythmicity which accounted for 8% of the variance. 8) When children's temperaments were biologically rhythmic and agreeable, their mothers gave more intimate expression. These two factors accounted for 14% of the variance in mother's intimate expression. Whereas biological rhythmicity accounted for 8% of the variance, agreeable explained additional 6%. 9) When children's temperaments were biologically rhythmic, persistent, and agreeable, mothers did more limit setting. These three temperamental factors accounted for 15% of the variance in the mother's limit setting behavior. The most powerful contributing factor was biological rhythmicity which accounted for 8% of the variance. In conclusion, the results of the proposed study showed that children's temperaments affected mothers' childrearing practices. It can be further interpreted that children's tempermental behaviors may affect their own environments in which they grow.